sex of the baby

[irishmummy27]

i am currently pregnant with my 3rd and although i have been blessed with 2 wonderful boys i long for a little girl , i believe that my pregnancy is different this time around compared to my last 2 , and i have gained a lot more weight round my hips , even tho my bump is quite low , i read thes tatistics about having 2 boys u are likey to have a 3rd but i dont know if any of that is so... desperately seeking comfort from a mum of 2 boys then a little girl , to reassure me that there is hope :)

[buttonmoon78]

Statistically speaking, if you already have two of one sex you're more likely to have a third of the same. I'm one of three girls. My dad's brother has three boys. My mate has three boys.

However, I have two girls and a boy (and another boy on the way if the scan is correct). I also know of a family who had three boys and then had twin girls.

That statistic is a tiny increase!

Will you find out? When is your scan?

Also, fwiw, my bumps and pgs have all been v v different with absolutely no correlation to sex.

[TransatlanticCityGirl]

Sadly all those old wives tales are just that - tales. I like to believe in intuition but I know plenty of people who strongly felt it would be a girl and it ended up a boy.

The only thing you can do is wait for scan results but there's no point worrying or wondering about it, because it's a done deal now!

Also, don't forget that just because you might have a girl doesn't mean you will get the same girl you are imagining in your head. She will have her own personality and you may find she is nothing like you were expecting. I think my mother was very disappointed as I turned out nothing like the girl she was hoping for!

[nicolamumof3]

I have three boys and was stunned to find out that dc4 is apparently a girl! Still getting over the shock now and im 32w.

[iWILLdothis]

I met a friend yesterday who has 2 boys and no. 3 was a girl. :)

[FetchezLaVache]

A friend of mine, an older lady, carried her first three children- all boys- all the same way. The fourth was completely different and she was certain it was her longed-for girl, but you've guessed it, it was another boy, and she was so disappointed she struggled to bond with him. Just sayin'. Don't build your hopes up!

[FetchezLaVache]

That said, my auntie had four boys followed by two girls.

[marie14]

Statistically buttonmoon???????? Someone hasn't done their maths GCSE in along time obviously! It's an independent variable, if you have a baby of one gender, it has nothing to do with what your next one will be unless there is a medical problem with the male involved!

My best friend is a girl with two older brothers, it's still 50:50!

[marie14]

www.in-gender.com/XYU/Odds/Gender_Odds.aspx

read the bottom of this website!

[mummytigger]

My family have had a maximum of three children per generation, and they've all gone girl, girl, boy. My mum, my auntie, my grandmother and my great-grandmother all ended up with either 1 or 2 girls, or 2 girls and a boy. So when my mother and I went into the scan, and they told me I was expecting a boy, my mother nearly passed out. You could have heard the thud as her jaw dropped. I burst into tears of joy, and my partner did a little dance!

There's absolutely no way to determine the sex of the baby - even genetics don't play by the rules all the time! I know one woman who has 6 boys, and will carry on until she gets a girl. She'll have a football team first, but at least she'll have a girl!

[buttonmoon78]

I'm going to have to do some googling Marie! It was a UK stat I read which acknowledged that the boy/girl stats favour boys, but studying what actually happened in various situations, the 2 into 3 the same was a stronger possibility.

I think they were suggesting that in many cases (where all children have the same 2 parents) it was that the father produced more of one sperm than the other.

Of course, there are always exceptions to every 'rule'. I'm one of them!

[HengshanRoad]

You should be happy that you're having a third child. Just saying.

[duckdodgers]

mummytiger - I feel sorry in some way for the boys of that woman you mention with 6 and whos determined to keep on going till she gets a girl - what kind of message does that send out to them, that they were just "trial runs" till she gets what she really "wants"?

[captainbarnacle]

I think it is statistically more likely to have a boy after 2 boys for example just because that is the most common result! Not statistically in terms of increased probability but using your family as another statistic.

I have 2 boys and am pregnant with my 3rd boy :)

[lollystix]

Irish - I've been in your shoes. Ds3 was altogether different preg and I had followed Hazel chesterman Phillips book religiously for a girl. Didn't get scan like with ds1 and 2 as couldn't bear to be told another boy. Admitted I did feel sad when he was a boy but after a few months I got my head round it, learnt to ignore all the crappy comments people make and now I couldn't be happier. Bizarrely I'm pregs again (big shock) and at 15 week scan told another boy in there and my feelings couldn't be more different. 4 boys will be amazing (3 certainly are!!) and I'm really looking forward to it. Of friends and family who I know of who have 2 boys already, the gender of the third has been (unsurprisingly) 50/50. Maybe get a scan done if you are worried - I wish I had done with ds3 as it would have made it easier when he was born. 3 boys really is special you know - I could burst with pride over mine every day and I love watching them all play together.

[meditrina]

The NLYS study linked above shows a 50% increase in the likelihood of having a 4th boy if you have 3 already (9% having 4 boys, whereas 50/50 predicts 6%). But there is no difference from 50/50 for girls or in fewer than 4 children per family. And a larger, or repeated similar sized, studies would be needed to show if NLYS's results were reliable or an anomalous.

[marie14]

meditrina most people keep just writing 'statistically'... what statistics? I was just showing what I'd read, not judging it on it's scientific basis. Maybe rather than pretending to be clever you should just link a more credible study? All you've done is point out that the internet isn't always right, (you're sooooooo clever!) and haven't actually answered the question irishmummy asked.

I just said the bit at the bottom says
"If you have had 2 or 3 boys, you are only about 2% to 6% more likely to have another boy." Which was just backing up what I was saying that it's practically an independent variable if you don't include the tiny few percent that are biologically different which is obviously what that 2-6% account for!

[buttonmoon78]

Flippin' heck marie! Had a bad day?

I think that was going a bit far actually. And getting a bit personal. Chill out.

[buttonmoon78]

www.redorbit.com/news/health/1609851/fathers_genes_responsible_for_childs_sex/index.html

Seems to suggest another view doesn't it?

[meditrina]

Marie14: I'm using exactly the same stats as you are. The expected rate for a fourth boy on the 50/50 model was 6.3%, and the actual proportion was 9.1%. I rounded to 6% and 9%. The "excess" boys is therefore 3% - 3% as a %age of the expected 6% is 50%. The website's commentary (not the actual survey) is wrong.

But, as I said, this survey in itself doesn't have large enough numbers to say the increase in boys is statistically significant. That is who more data needs to be gathered to show if thus 50% increase for 4th boy is a genuine phenomena.

[marie14]

buttonmoon no i just joined because i thought this was a good website to talk to other people about their experiences like birth, what to buy or little tips about stuff thats a little bit more personal than google. But it seems to be people asking seriously medical questions to loads of mums who aren't qualified to be giving out medical advice!

When people come on here saying 'statistically' then start spewing a load of rubbish it just frustrates me.Unless you can show why you're saying something don't just start quoting things. It can stress people out for no reason because more peoples 'statistics' are things they've heard from others that aren't even true or they've misheard or forgotten half of!


By giving that website I was showing why I said what I did and meditrina is trying to be clever and try and undermine my source. Whereas me saying that I thought gender was merely an independent variable, and then showing why I thought that, I'm not claiming to be a professor on the subject (like some people act on here) i'm showing my source so people can judge for themselves how credible it is.

[pregnantmimi]

Hi my mum had 2 boys and when pregnant with the third she couldnt find out till birth anyway in them days she thought the baby would be a boy as there was alot of boys in my Dads side plus she already had 2.

When she gave birth she asked my Dad what the baby was my Dad said another boy and she thought oh well and said we can call him russell then the midwife said what you talking about its a girl lol. My Dad got confused thought he had seen boy bits but she was just a bit swollen so he got confused lol.

So it can happen is what Im saying just wait and see x

[meditrina]

You don't have to be a genius at maths to see there is an error in describing the outcome. There is a three point rise from 6 to 9. That is a 50% rise.

I'm not trying to be clever - I'm pointing out a very basic arithmetical error in the link.